Notre Dame Inexplicably Releases Video Praising Players For Quitting Instead Of Playing Bowl Game

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish certainly haven't had a boring month and a half.

Just last month, it was revealed that the Irish have a special arrangement with the College Football Playoff moving forward, giving them a guaranteed playoff spot if they finish in the top-12. This deal allows the Irish to set up schedules to their advantage; for example, avoiding tough games and building on a strong likelihood of an 11-win season. Such as in the upcoming 2026 season. 

Relatedly, after over 90 years of rivalry games between Notre Dame and the USC Trojans, news broke in December that the series would not be played through at least the 2030 season. Notre Dame, one of the last few remaining independent teams, benefits from avoiding the pitfalls of a lengthy conference schedule and potential extra loss in a conference championship game. With USC now in college football's toughest conference and subject to lengthy road trips, the Trojans asked to move the game earlier in the season. That arrangement would have aligned with head coach Marcus Freeman's stated desire to play the game anytime, anywhere. 

RELATED: Notre Dame Wasn't Honest About Wanting To Keep USC Rivalry Going

The Irish turned it down. 

The end of the series was almost assuredly directly connected to Notre Dame missing out on a playoff spot a few weeks prior. The Irish clearly deserved a playoff spot; their only two losses were against top-10 quality teams, the Miami Hurricanes or Texas A&M Aggies,  by extremely tight margins. The committee, though, selected Alabama, despite the Tide struggling against mediocre teams, losing in blowout fashion in the SEC Championship Game, and suffering an early-season loss to an awful Florida State team.

Instead of accepting that snub, frustrating as it was, the Irish took their ball and went home. They announced they'd reject any bowl bid, throwing a tantrum instead of competing on the field. And for some reason, they apparently think this makes them look good?

Notre Dame Head Coach Marcus Freeman. (Photo by Michael Miller/ISI Photos/Getty Images)

Marcus Freeman Celebrates Players Voting To Quit, For Some Reason

While almost every other major college football team, including those who were not selected for the College Football Playoff, continued their season by playing in a bowl game, the Irish sulked and withdrew from consideration for the Pop-Tarts Bowl. This decision was widely mocked by opposing fans, and ratings for the Pop-Tarts Bowl showed it made little impact on the success of the game. Even worse, the BYU Cougars, despite having a decent case for a playoff spot themselves, accepted their bid without hesitation.

For some inexplicable reason, the Notre Dame program, and Freeman, appear to think that this decision somehow reflected well on the players, coaching staff, and administration. Seriously. In a new video released this week, they showed the behind-the-scenes deliberations among the players and coaches. And their vote to throw a hissy fit over not getting their way.

"You don't have much time, after the announcement, to make a decision on a bowl game," Freeman said. "The captains had already gotten together, talked with the majority of the leaders on the team with each other. And by the time we had a conversation, they had already knew that this question was gonna come up."

"But as long as y'all felt convicted and made it for the right reason, that's why I agree with you," he continued. "That's why I agree. If I didn't, I thought you guys just were mad and just, ‘no Coach, we’re not gonna do it because we're mad.' I wouldn't have let you do it. But it was well-thought-out and I wanted you to know how proud I am of you guys."

Freeman then added, "Everybody has an opinion on what you guys are doing."

Linebacker Drayk Bowen then immediately contradicted that, saying they voted against playing because they didn't get in the playoff.

"We kind of just got the rug pulled out from under us," Bowen said. "And that was one of the biggest things that we talked about. We're not necessarily gonna be playing with our full team. We didn't feel like we were gonna represent our football team, Notre Dame, and ourselves very well."

Well Marcus, everyone has an opinion on what they voted to do because it's absolutely ridiculous. And it's obvious that the players were upset after not getting their way. Many, many teams that played in bowl games did not have most of their starters playing bowl games, like say, USC, which was missing roughly 15 starters or would-be starters in their game against TCU. They still played in it. 

Bowl games also offer an opportunity for more practices, a chance for younger players to develop and learn, and give fans another game to watch their favorite team. But because they had the "rug pulled out," by not getting what they wanted, they voted to quit. This is not something to be proud of! 

Yes, the Irish deserved to be in the playoff. No, they should not have thrown a tantrum and voted to skip a bowl game. And they absolutely should not have released this video, acting as though this was a good decision people, outside the most hardened Irish fans, would support.